Road Project Delays Spur Push To Hire Assistant

June 20, 1985|By Ann Moore of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — After learning this week that some road projects in their districts have been stalled, Seminole County commissioners Wednesday agreed tentatively to hire a right-of-way coordinator to speed up property acquisitions.

The coordinator would identify and negotiate for property needed to widen, pave or improve county roads. Right-of-way acquisition can be time-consuming and delay projects indefinitely, staff members from the county attorney's office and public works department said. County Administrator Ken Hooper said the county desperately needs the right-of-way coordinator, who would earn about $28,000 a year.

Commissioner Fred Streetman learned during budget work sessions Wednesday that the intersection improvements on Sand Lake Road at East Lake Brantley and West Lake Brantley Roads are behind schedule because of right-of-way acquisition problems.

The intersection improvements -- adding turning lanes -- had a Sept. 30 completion date, Streetman said. And traffic signals at both intersections had a January 1986 completion date, he said.

Streetman said he has told several constituents about the timetables, believing they were accurate.

Public Works Director Larry Sellers said those timetables were based on the county having no right-of-way problems. After engineering work was done, the county found that it needed more right-of-way than it had, Sellers said.

Commissioner Barbara Christensen was dismayed Tuesday when she learned that staff has not begun yet to acquire rights of way that have not been donated along Red Bug Lake Road for that widening project.

County Attorney Nikki Clayton told commissioners her office had just received the engineering plans. Those plans show the exact amounts of land needed for a project, she said.

Commission Chairman Robert Sturm said Sellers should give the board updates quarterly on the status of road projects. Streetman, however, said the district commissioner should be told immediately of any delays.

The board tentatively had turned down the request for a right-of-way coordinator, which had been presented Tuesday in Clayton's budget request proposal. Commissioners removed it from Clayton's budget and placed it in Hooper's.